Provincial News

Putting Fans First in Ontario

Province Consulting on Ways to Give People a Fair Shot at Getting Tickets

Ontario is reviewing the rules for buying and selling tickets online to give fans a fair shot at getting tickets to see their favourite team, musical act or theatrical performance.

Event tickets are mostly bought and sold online. While this has given fans more options, it also means that tickets to popular shows and games often sell out within hours, sometimes minutes. Many tickets are then posted on resale sites at a price much higher than their original value. This leaves fans unable to find the tickets they want at a price they can afford.

Starting today, fans can help the government develop new legislation that would make the process of buying and selling tickets more fair and transparent by sharing their ideas through an online consultation. To participate go to ontario.ca/tickets and complete the survey.

The province is looking for feedback in four key areas:

Access - making sure everyone has a fair shot at buying tickets for popular events

Transparency - making more information available to consumers when they buy tickets

Enforcement - making sure laws are followed.

Making it easier to find tickets online is part of Ontario's plan to create jobs, grow our economy and help people in their everyday lives.

Quick Facts

Ontarians will have until Mar. 15, 2017 to participate in the survey.

The province is also meeting with artists and representatives from the entertainment industry to discuss issues related to the accessibility, affordability and transparency of ticket selling and reselling, as well as enforcement of the law.

The United States, United Kingdom and Italy have each taken steps in recent years to increase fairness, transparency and consumer protection in the online ticket market.

According to a Music Canada report, live music contributed nearly $1.2 billion to Ontario’s economy in 2013.